19820208 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.8.39-40

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The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on February 8, 1982 - Murari Sevaka Farm, USA. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.8.39-40.

Some of the demons said all the demigods have taken part in turning the ocean of milk. Now, as everyone has an equal right to partake in any public sacrifice according to the eternal religious system, it is befitting that the demigods now have a share of the nectar. O king. In this way, the weaker demons forbade the stronger demons to take the nectar. Translation some of the demons said all the demigods have taken part in turning the ocean of milk. Now, as everyone has an equal right. Equal right to partake in any public sacrifice according to the religious, eternal religious system, it is befitting. It is befitting that the demigods now have a share of the nectar. O king. In this way, the wicked demons forbade the stronger demons to take the nectar.

Report by his divine grace to the AC Bhakti Vidanta Swami Prabhupāda desiring to take to nectar those among the demons who were less strong spoke in favor of the demigods. The weaker deitys naturally pleaded on behalf of the demigods to stop the stronger daitiyas from drinking the nectar without sharing it. In this way, disagreement and trouble arose as they forbade one another to drink the nectar. This is the nature of demons. They are interested in their own sense gratification, demigods or the devotees. They are interested in satisfying the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, they try to satisfy Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa first. Always everything is offered to the Lord as a bhoga, as an offering. The devotees are accepting the remnants as prasad or mercy. But the Dimas, they’re not thinking about giving anything to Kṛṣṇa.

So they’re simply thinking how each one can first taste the nectar and thus become eternal. Sometimes we see that even there are certain groups which come together and then after some time when they achieve the goals, then they break apart, because each person is interested in his own material development and not in actually the total good, nor, and especially in satisfying the supreme personality of God. Therefore, a devotee is known to be as poor one who is always compassionate to see, when he sees the misery of others and is trying to deliver that misery, deliver those people from their misery. In this regard, I’d like to go to the saptam voice of the 7th great glorification on the transcendental qualities of his divine grace.

Śrī Lanka Bhakti Siddhānta Sarah Shuri Thakur as written by our founder Acharya Sivakti Vedānta Swami from Upal this is that a truly great devotee of the Lord or one of the great qualities of a devotee of the Lord is that he is called Dukhie, that he is himself compassionate to see the suffering of others and therefore he wants to do something about it. So the placing of that practical effect of that compassion is that such devotees, they go on attempting to increase the Prachar or the preaching work of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So the Prabhupāda goes on to say, Nithya Siddhakṛṣṇa Bhakti, jagilis hawar aponi palawi khali kori haar, that in the heart of every person is the eternal spirit soul. You see, that is actually who we are.

And that spirit soul has one of its, or has its basic eternal characteristics, an eternal loving relationship with Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the supreme personality of God him. So therefore, that is known as Nithya Siddha Kṛṣṇa Bhakti, that Kṛṣṇa Bhakti is there within her heart that simply has to be awakened. Now we have forgotten or we have misdirected that natural flow of affection to the Lord. So by the preaching work of such great devotees who are compassionate for the suffering of others, then all the evil effects of this age of quarrel, the age of Kali, they run and the personification or personified Kali himself run away when that pure devotional characteristic is automatically awakened from the heart of Beinadi common Mandev. And so Kali runs away screaming out, ha, ha, save me. Because Kali is destroyed by the effects of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The next version of the prani nama prani namu bhagaraya prabhupani iha kalapurakala sukhela sekani the Lord Caitani Mahabharu’s message is to deliver or to help all of the living entities. By that one is happy in this world and one achieves eternal happiness in the spiritual abode of the Lord. Even after this life. After this life, verse 64 is atto kaja poreiazi tuma dear hathe akaktre miliya karchu korahotahate that well all my brother Vaishnavas, there’s a lot of work to be done and it’s all waiting to be done by us. Therefore, now we should come together, take up this work seriously for the benefit of all the fallen souls. In a cooperative spirit we should work.

So see the Prabhupāda here he accounts the transitional paradigm of Vasudev doctor, that the Vasudev Bipro, the great prophet he called, he prayed to Lord Caitanya Mahabrabhu that all of the sinful reactions, all of the karmas which are accumulated by all of the living entities, conditioned and in bondage in this universe, that they should all be given personally to him. He prayed, give me all of their sinful reactions. I will take out all the bad karmas. I will take all of the sufferings. I am the most fallen. I am the most insignificant. Let it all come upon me. This was his request. Why? So then you take all of the misery, all of the suffering from all the living entities. Simply give it to me and you liberate all of them. You take them all back to the kingdom of God. Let me just alone suffer.

I will just stay here and rot forever. Doesn’t matter. Let hundreds and millions and unlimited people go back to God. Let me alone suffer. That’s much better. Even I stay here forever. No harm. Let them taste the nectar of pure love for Kṛṣṇa. Let them taste the eternal happiness. This was Masuda’s prayer. The Śrī la Prabhat said this is a characteristic of the topmost of all pure devotee, vaishnavas of the Lord that transcendentally he feels compassion for the miseries and sufferings of all the suffering people of this world. Attend your trip to jahi nahi taarastuki. He has complete, you see, transcendental happiness through Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore, he doesnt require any material happiness. Even material misery has no problem for him. Hes already tasting eternal happiness in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore willingly, hed rather take on their misery. Let them go back to Kajden.

They don’t have any concern with material affairs. So three more verses here in this 6th, 7th of what type of mercy, what type of real help can be done by those who are non devotees, who are of the lord, who are avaishnavas. They simply become offenders by calling poor people as poor Nārāyaṇas or the ritual Nārāyaṇas, thus offending the supreme Lord Nārāyaṇa by giving him some type of artificial title as darintramato. According to scientific, the mercy of the imperial devotees is very practical and scientific. Without a land, without pure devotees of the lord is simply a place of suffering and materialistic misery. Therefore, in every land, the supreme personality of Godha Vishnu must be placed in the topmost position. And his pure devotees devaishnawas, they must be given full scope to actively work for delivering real happiness to all of the people.

This is the verdict of all the great sages and saints from the vedic literature. So thus end the 7th voy sht of Bhaktived Swami prabhupāda. So here Śrīla Rabad is showing us the real characteristic of his divine grace Bhakti Siddhartha service and the real characteristic of the devotees or bhakti yogis in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that they are actually compassionate to the ultimate degree. They are willing to accept all type of difficulties, all type of obstacles, so that the souls in bondage in this material world may be delivered. Actually his divine grace ac Bhakti Vedānta Swami Prabhupāda has shown in his personal lifetime the highest degree of compassion on the whole world.

Advanced age of 70 years, taking all type of difficulties for spreading the message of Sheitanya Mahabharata all over the world and traveling profusely from 1965 until 1977, all over the world, at least about 17 times. So because of this one compassionate, pure devotees endeavor, the whole world has become awakened to hare Kishna, and the great movement of Caitanya Mahakabu has spread all over the world, fulfilling the prediction 500 years ago that in every town and village around the world, his holy name would be sung, his movement would be spread. So now that is fast coming true. This is because of compassion. It’s not possible to spread such a glorious and pure thing as pure devotional service, pure love for God, the highest practice of yoga, without being empowered by Kṛṣṇa himself and without having a pure desiree in this kali yuga.

The recommended process for the age is to chant the hare ko hare, Kharea Mahamantra and Lord Caitanya Mahabharata. His instruction was that everyone should be engaged in the Sankirtan movement and Lord Caitanya himself personally engaged even the jungle animals, the jar Gunnar forest Caitanya Mahabrabhu requested tigers, elephants, deer, snakes, everyone to chant hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa hari. Hari, Hari Ram. Hariram, Hare Ram. Hari hare. Hari bo. Hari bo. And because he himself is the lord of everyone, he was able to get all of the animals to also chant roll in the ground. At that time, together there were tigers, deer, elephants, and there was no question of any danger felt by anyone, because everyone was absorbed in love for Kṛṣṇa. So of course, Chetanya Mahapu could even get the animals filled with ecstatic love for goddess. What to speak of human beings?

Our founder, Bhakti Biddan Dasami Mubad, he has instructed us that we may not be immediately able to engage all of the animals, but at least we should get all other human beings to dance in ecstasy, chanting the hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā mantra. By this means, the miseries of this immediate lifetime are dissipated and one is freed from the repetition of birth and death. One is given the highest position as an eternal sevak in the eternal devotional service of the lord. So in this way, there is no higher position than one could achieve. So it is a great responsibility about those who know better. Nowadays, of course, people have become very, really self centered. Not in a real sense, as our real self is not the body, but our eternal soul, but in artificial, material sense. They have become bodily centered. The body has the self.

So even if there is some big doctor or someone who knows how to help people, he may be afraid, especially in western countries, that if I try to just help someone, I won’t get any money out of it. And in the end, I may get sued or this or that. So it’s very difficult. If one wants to do material, charitable work, even if he wants to do it, then there’s every risk that someone ultimately won’t appreciate it. So that’s why that type of material welfare work is filled with many defects. So the welfare work which is being discussed here is something which is pure. Why we suffer, why we are miserable, why we are forced to get old and die. These are questions every human being should ask himself and should find out the answer.

If I don’t want to be miserable, if I don’t want to grow, why I am forced to do it. There’s a cause for everything. So then one can understand, ultimately, we are not independent. We are strictly controlled by various natural laws. And those natural laws are given by, ultimately by Kṛṣṇa, Māyā, Dakshina, Prakriti. The whole material nature is under his control. So he’s saying to us, it’s very difficult to get over this material nature. But it’s very easy to cross over this material nature and stringent laws by taking shelter of Lord Shri Kṛṣṇa. Just as someone who is given a death sentence may approach the president of the country to get a reprieve, to get a pardon, that ultimate pardon is the right of the head of state to give in most countries of the world.

So the head of everything is the supreme personality of God in so, similarly, there are various processes of yoga, various religious systems, which are ultimately meant to get a pardon or to get. To finish our term in this material prison house. But if one gets a pardon, then there’s no question. Free the material people, they are so illusion. They don’t realize that they are not free. That’s their first mistake. So therefore, the laws of nature are made in such a way that they have to suffer the reaction for the activities that they perform. So then they realize that actually, whatever they are doing, then they are forced to suffer for that and they are also given a limited time in each body. Each body has got a particular term which is fixed at the time of our birth. How many breaths we have?

Maybe one lakh, maybe five lakhs. 500,000, 105 billion. Whatever certain amount of breaths are given, one can reduce those number of breaths or 1 may slightly increase by certain pious activities. But no matter how much 1 may increase, ultimately this material world, he cannot stay forever. He has to leave the body sooner. Sooner or later, those yogis who have been able to control their pranayama because they stop the breathing process, naturally their life increases. If they can stop breathing completely, then they can remain without joy. That’s why you find yogis 3400 years. As long as they are remaining in Samadhi, then they are not growing older. When they come off of Samadhi and they start breathing again, they growing older again. So.

But even then, unless one transfers oneself out of this material world, even the greatest mystic yogis, once their material world is dissolved, then they have to give up this body because at that time everything is finished. Even they may be the greatest Sidha or liberated soul. Soul? Rather perfected, mystically perfected soul. That type of welfare work which is based upon the body that you can never satisfy everyone’s body. There are always someone who dissatisfied mentally or physically with what someone else is doing. Kennedy, Washington appreciated by many people. But Howard Oswald did not appreciate him like that. Gandhiji was appreciated by many people. But there was one man who didn’t appreciate him. He shot him. In this way, there’s always someone who appreciates and someone who doesn’t appreciate any material activity.

But the devotee doesn’t care that whether people in ignorance appreciate or don’t appreciate, they first of all care whether Kṛṣṇa appreciates. Because if Kṛṣṇa appreciates automatically, everyone is taken care of because he is the controller of everyone by his mercy, all the difficulties can be crossed over. So just like I was saying, if you can get departed, then there’s no question all these different processes, difficult processes of yoga, difficult processes of religious systems have been simplified in this age of Kali to enable everyone to directly make their appeal to the supreme head. Generally the systems are quite indirect. Even if you pray, it’s only some abstract name. God all only means God. Jehovah only means there’s no direct name.

Just like if you write a letter, dear prime minister, dear President, if you know his name, you see Sanjeev Reddy, President of India, Ronald Reagan, president of USA, whatever, then at least it has a personal touch. And if you send a letter through one of his aides, who may be personally connected with you, then you’re sure that it’s going to get there. Otherwise it may not get past the secretary and the outer office. So like that, people say God, yeah, of course it gets there, but in a very abstract way, doesn’t go directly to the most merciful form of the Lord, but goes to his expansions here in the material universe for maintaining. So this is a problem.

People, they don’t know how to directly approach and get a direct pardon from this material prison house, how to achieve a direct relationship with the supreme Lord. Therefore, they are being kicked by the material nature. They are forced to suffer. And the only hope for them is the devotees, the Vaishnavas, who already have a connection with the Lord, who know these secrets, who have uncovered these from the vedic literatures, and rather have received this special system in the disciplic succession. So if those persons who know better, who know the secret, if they don’t give it out to others, then what is the hope? The common person, therefore, the whole world is going to help. Subhakti Vedānta, Swami Prabhupāda is writing particular poem to the devotees of the Lord, that they should be very active and take up this responsibility which is theirs alone.

No one else can do it at all to give out this medicine or this mercy for the upliftment of all the fallen souls, of all the suffering persons in this material world, irregardless of their background, of their designation, cast, creed, color, whatever it may be. So sometimes non devotees, they try to put on that type of show to help the suffering people. But because they’re also dependent on getting sense gratification, they’re dependent on satisfying their bodily demands. Otherwise, they don’t get their personal happiness. The happiness they get by helping others is simply mental or sentimental, because they’re not connected through the process of bhakti yoga with the supreme personality of God and with the supreme absolute truth. And they’re not, therefore, getting spiritual bliss from the spiritual platform, which is satisfying not only the soul, but the mind and the body.

Therefore, they have to go here and there for eating, for sleeping, for sex life as their only source of happiness. So what happens? They don’t get a good food, they don’t get good edibles. Then they’re feeling unhappy. They’re not having good sleep, and they’re feeling distressed. They’re having some disruption in their love affair. Everything is down. So then, in this way, they’re afraid of some type of attack from opposing parties. From envious people. They’re afraid, they’re fearful. So this way they are completely absorbed in animal propensities. And it’s very difficult for them to actually overcome that, to do any real welfare work for the people.

And if they want to find, if they somehow or another are able to just control those basic problems, somehow or another, just satisfy the minimum wants to be able to push on and think about doing something for others, even then, their ideas are all off. Their ideas are concocted. They don’t have any real basis of what the real problem of the people are. They just put on something which is very satisfying for publicity sake or to their own mental idea. So in this way, the human ideas that try to do something, so in this way, sometimes they call all the poor people, you serve them, they are Nārāyaṇa. This is a type of impersonal idea that everyone is Narayan. Actually, Nārāyaṇa is the supreme person. He is always above this material world. He never comes under the control of this material world.

He is always possessed with all opulence, all knowledge, all beauty, all fame, all renunciation and all power. So he doesnt become in any way limited by this material world like this, all in six politics, Sarba Borago. So he doesn’t become a dhrittra or poor man. So this idea, simply some concoction. Oh, that all these poor men, suffering beggars, they are just another form of Narayan, another form of God. We are serving the poor God. You see, God doesn’t become poor. There are poor humans, pure jivas, fallen in the material world. They are part of God, but they are not God. God is above all this dhritrtwa, poverty, suffering. He is always there to give the help to lift the people out, if we so desire. And he has given process how to do that.

So different ages, there were different processes, and some of those processes are still practiced today. But it’s very hard to practice the different religious systems in this kali yuga properly. So a system has been given which is so easy that anyone can practice, and it is so sublime that immediately one feels transcendental happiness in the spiritual platform. So whether or not one is materially simply getting by, or whether materially enjoying is not dependent or materially suffering. He doesn’t lose his complete hope, doesn’t become completely dejected or filled with lamentation and fear, because he’s getting transcendental happiness from the spiritual platform. That type of person can actually do welfare work for the people. He actually can have real compassion. And his ideas being authorized by Kṛṣṇa, by the Vedas, they are not simply concoction. They won’t create some disturbance in the future.

So therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was saying that every place in the whole world needs such pure devotees of the Lord that may purify those lands, may create a proper atmosphere for human development, for cultural spiritual development, based upon the principles of eternal knowledge, eternal truth, based on the principles of vedic culture, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So how at this time he wrote this before he went to the west. He’s imploring all the Vaishnavas of India. Let us work together. Let us now make a program to go abroad, to go to the different countries, to help the people, to understand what is the purpose of life, to create devotees in each of those countries that they may in turn purify their own lands. And then this way, the world can be freed from all this suffering and misery. And this way he is imploring upon him.

Let us wake up these sleeping souls ourselves. Let us move out of our religious hermitages and iceramas and all these places simply living a type of lazy life. Let us take up the active preaching word. This was his plea. But no one was interested at that time. Only those who were interested. They didn’t want to go for making people. They wanted to make some business, show some yoga posture, which is simply the very basic warm up. A real yoga practice had nothing to do with the highest system of yoga at all. So finally, he was all this time humble, thinking that we should do it together. We should do it together. I don’t want to make it a one man show.

But when no one came forward, no one would take the courage or the initiative, or would have the magnanimity of even working together, discussing the topic, then receiving so many orders in dream by Bhakti Siddhānta Sarjit Hakur. Then he was obliged that he must go himself to the west. Even he’s alone, even when he is at the vague end of the material body. He must go to make one last effort. Whatever be the will of Kṛṣṇa, that will happen. But he must not himself, after realizing so many transcendental truths, allow that mercy not to be distributed as widely as possible. So he took up that mission and distributed all over the world. This was his mission his whole life, wasnt that he got this idea late. Through his whole life, he had the idea, he was planning, he was preparing.

But he was thinking that together we should do it. He was not the only devotee, not the only God brother, not the only person. Why should he go on himself first he was feeling we should all work together and do it joint effort in a proper mood of cooperation. But no one took it up. He realized actually the time was coming to a close. A period he will spend in this world. So I have to go. At least no one else is going. It’s my duty. I must go come what may, depending on the Lord’s mercy. So now this heritage of helping the souls in this world who are suffering from the material bondage, material misery has fallen on so many devotees all over the world. Some of these devotees will think that it is difficult thing to worry about others.

Better to worry about ones own material facilities and position first. And then we can think about doing something for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We can think about doing something for that misery of others and giving them pure God consciousness. So such people, they won’t be able to do much. They become materially affected others individually. If they try to do without trying to engage the others, then they won’t get the full mercy of the Lord. But cooperative, they try cooperatively. No one came forward. He had no choice to do it alone. This is the goal. This is the movement of Chetanyamam to work as Sankirtan. Sankirtan means call kartal cymbals, drums, singer, dancer, everyone together working. And then you create a beautiful. You see. Sankirtan chanting party. Just one person cannot make a Sankirtan party very perfectly requires many people together.

This is a movement of organized movement for delivering the people from their ignorant, miserable condition to the highest platform of pure bliss, pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The dimas, they’re always interested in me first. Therefore there’s always this type of difficulty, this type of disturbance. But the devotees who actually understood the essence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness put always the order of guru, order of Kṛṣṇa in the forefront. Therefore there must be a harmony. It’s only one order, only one goal, only one supreme lord. Therefore everyone is directed to the same end. Must be harmony. If everyone is in the symphony, is playing to the same tune to the same time, then there will be a harmony. Even there’s varieties of instruments, varieties of sanctums. But the whole thing becomes a symphony because it’s all being directed by the will of the spirit, same supreme lord.

When everybody wants to play their own thing, then it becomes a different creation. If they reject the guidance of the lord of his representatives, then it becomes hopeless. So now this responsibility is upon all of the devotees of Lord Chichetani, Mahakapu and the world to continue spreading his Sankirtan movement until Kali is completely driven out of this world. He will quant crying. You see, we don’t mind. The devotee doesn’t mind as such an envious person who creates misery, quarrel and dissension amongst the people is forced to run out. Devote. He doesn’t mind if a cruel person is driven out and the people are allowed to be happy in transcendental joy. Let the one troublemaker go out if that’s his misfortune. We don’t mind someone whose happiness is causing misfortune and misery to others.

The devotee doesn’t mind if he gets driven out because they want to see that all the innocent people should get real spiritual blessing. Jai shikṛṣṇa chaitanya. Hari. Hari.